The Trump administration is proposing new rules to govern grantmaking by federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, Small Business Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to proposed rulemaking by the Office of Management and Budget, past government grants were sometimes awarded “to promote a ‘woke’ policy agenda that did not reflect the values of the vast majority of the American public.”
“Grantmaking practices resulting in wasteful spending that became prevalent during the previous administration can only be stopped through adherence to strong internal controls at federal agencies and enhanced oversight regarding how federal dollars are spent,'” OMB said in the rule.
Among the proposed changes, the rule would eliminate the use of fixed amount awards and subawards, emphasize the need for “merit-based selection” of award recipients, prevent awards from going to recipients “with a history of questionable practices or poor financial management,” clarify the ability of agencies to terminate discretionary awards “inconsistent with program goals or agency priorities,” and direct federal agencies to exercise “appropriate monitoring and oversight” of recipients.
Comments on the proposed rule are due within 45 days of publication in the Federal Register.
